Wanting the Belt: Hachey Looks to Become Elite 1 Champ

When it comes to mixed martial arts in Atlantic Canada, it seems that a few fighters are trying to make up for lost time and John Hachey is one of them. After an 18 month layoff, Hachey will look to keep his undefeated record intact as he faces Chris Johnson at Elite 1: Tapping Out. The fight, set to take place January 29th in Moncton, New Brunswick, will be for the Elite 1 Light-Heavyweight title.

Hachey is looking forward to finally getting back into the swing of things. He says,

“I am just very excited. This is my first fight in a while. I was injured there for a while and I am just happy to get back in.”

While there are a number of reasons why the Amherst, Nova Scotia native has been away from the scene, it was mainly because of two freak accidents with his biceps that happened during training sessions. Before the layoff, he grabbed four straight wins in various events throughout the Maritimes in Heavyweight and then Light-Heavyweight competition. Another reason for his absence from the cage was that he was making a big move. Early in his career, he was splitting time for sessions between Amherst and Truro. He decided to make the move to Dartmouth and join Fitplus headed by Scott Maclean. While making a life changing move can be difficult for anyone, it did not take long for Hachey to realize it was the right thing to do for his career.

“I came here to advance my skills. Fitplus is the best gym east of Montreal and one of the top five gyms in Canada in my opinion,” says Hachey. “The first night I was there, I thought it would be hard to move into a new place where the guys have their own circle already, but I was accepted right away. It’s just a bunch of great guys that are there for you every day.”

On a daily basis, he now gets to train with the likes of TJ Grant, Tristan Johnson and countless others which should help him come January 29th. His opponent, Chris Johnson, has been active and will be coming into this fight with some momentum. Johnson will be fighting in his backyard and in his previous Elite 1 fight, he was able to take the belt from Steve Skinner who does pack some powerful punches. However, Johnson’s last fight was a loss to Jeremy Hamilton at W-1 in Halifax in October. The W-1 fight gave Johnson some national exposure and he was holding his own for much of the the fight. While with Hachey, the ring rust could play a factor as to how he will do, however, he thinks it all goes back to the day to day combat that he gets at Fitplus as to how well he will perform. Hachey comments,

“It has been an unbelievable advantage here, my skills have improved since I got here. It’s been a big uphill sprint for my skill. I don’t peak, it’s just advancement and I am getting better every day. That was something I didn’t have before because I had to travel a lot. It was very expensive to get to a place to train. I would have to drive and hour to an hour and a half just to get an hour of training and it is hard to do that. Now where I am living in Halifax, I train every day. It is nothing for me because I only live ten minutes away. It is great to know I can train when I want and it is great to know that you will have a bunch of killers with you. It just makes you really confident.”

While any mixed martial arts fan knows that there is difference between what goes on in training and what will happen in the cage, either way Hachey will come out a winner on what he has done in his life. When he was younger, he was not a small dude. During his teen years, he was so big that he said that his highest weight ever record was 395 pounds. Over a period of time, he was able to drop at least 150 pounds when he first fought at Heavyweight. Now, he usually walks around at 220 to 215. With reading stories or talking to people who have had similar situations, there was usually a low point or embarrassing moment that got them to shed away the extra weight. With Hachey, tragic personal matters really hit home. Hachey recounts this time in his life,

“I had a few deaths in the family that were really close together. I had lost four family members in a three week span due to health problems. It just opened my eyes to the fact that I had to do something. Mixed martial arts was not in my head at the time but MMA was something that came afterwards and it helped me maintain a good fitness level.”

After losing close to 200 pounds, Hachey has already won a huge battle to be even fighting MMA – now he is training with great fighters and fighting for the Elite 1 title when he confronts Johnson in the cage. When it comes to a game plan for his brawl with Johnson, Hachey says that he will just see where the fight will go but if you look at both guy’s records, don’t blink because it will be a quick one.

This is actually a well matched fight and I’m interested to see how it goes down. Still think Johnson could be a stud if he was with the right team. Love to see what he could do if he was @ a place like FitPlus

ELITE 1 is flying Dan Servern AND 1 fighter from Ontario out to fight on this card. TAPPING OUT is going to be huge! Any time SAIGO steps in the cage fireworks are guaranteed. Not to mention all the title fights.

To the SAIGO haters, just wait and see where the Gold goes! I cant wait to see Gunshi Dr John Williams step into the cage and show what SAIGO MMA is all about, AGAIN!

Fake? Yeah right! Darren is just jealous that a man considered by society and the MMA (which is a sport, not LIFE or DEATH)community to be “too old” goes out there and kicks butt, something you keyboard warriors will never understand.

Gunshi has a lifetime of accomplishments under his red-sash and black belt. He doesn’t need to fake anything. Especially in Martial arts world.

Darren is a Hater.

And Harry. I know one place where that fight will live forever, and, correct me if I am wrong, but I think they call it THE GUINESS BOOK OF RECORDS!

SAIGO and ELITE 1 putting Moncton on the map!

Just wait until Gunshi wear hits the shelves. Designs are looking great!

OMG I wish I could find the video of this Williams fight. There is so many things I could point out that shows it was planned before hand. The reason it was taking off youtube and facebook is because they didn’t want everyone to analyze it.

Sorry to Hachey & Topmmanews for getting off topic. Should be a good fight!

Datrut, I eat my tasty words with a side of humble pie. Never has an organization showed so much fortitude and courage than the silent assassins of Saigo. Elite 1 has both “elite” and “1” in its name, and yet some still foolishly question the legitimacy of their ninja-like awesomeness. I will never hate again….

If they thought the fight was legitimate, then maybe everything the vouch for is also bullshit?

Seriously anybody who saw that fight knows it was a crock.

Flame on, and call me a hater all you want.

If it wasn’t fake, then i’s even worse, as it was just a really really shitty fight then. Between an old car salesman against an even older Salesman. (Only in this case, nobody outside of Moncton and the Guiness book are buying it)

1. “Flying Severn out to fight”? You should let Dan know that you’re expecting more than his usual lazy ass work that ends in a kimura in round 2.

2. John Williams is a waste of fucking skin and should have been banned from competing for that bullshit he pulled off in his last “showing”. I say “showing” because it was so far from a fight it made Jenna’s acting career look like fucking Shakespeare in comparison.

Props to Johnson on this fight. He was definitely controlling the fight right up until the end. Hachey has a lot of heart but just couldn’t compare to the strength of Johnson. Should have been a DQ due to the illegal head kick but what can you do. Should have been stopped before this point anyways.

I have to agree. The Johnson fight should have been stopped before the kick. Johnson looking very good out there. Only 26 years old – true athlete – He keeps getting better and better. He keeps suprising the fans.

Lyndon and Justin another 2 to look for in the future. Very impressive 2 young men with a lot of talent.

Brad and Jon had a battle. Had the fans on their feet the whole fight. WOW

Looking forward to seing Troy Wilton in the cage and really see what he’s got.

Maritime MMA fighters are getting better considering amateur just started a year ago.

Congratulations! to all the fighters that have the heart and courage to step in that cage….
Can just imaging the feeling and thoughts when you hear that cage lock…

Elite 1 announced their next card to be at the casino NB on May 7th and the Casino announced another 4 fight contract to be signed with Elite 1

Thank you for selling out. Promotions like Elite1 are just what we need to corrupt this sport. Thank you for producing fake fights and posts. Please remember when you are posting as someone else not to advertise for your company.EDITED

Saigo is a fuckin joke and scam central. Wayne Williams is a piece of shit and “Gunshi” and his fixed fights are a disgrace. any mma fan with half a brain could see that fight with Brubaker was fixed. Saigo is nothing, it’s alway been nothing and will always be nothing. keep dreaming guys because you’re never gonna be anymore then what you are, a bunch of scammers puttin on fixed fights and lame ass shows. And everyone that knows and follows mma can see it.